Retrieving shopping carts in large parking lots is primarily a manual task. Workers push or pull a column of stacked wheeled shopping carts from various collection areas located throughout the parking lots. The longer the column of carts being pushed or pulled, the more difficult it becomes to control. Thus, workers limit the number of carts when moving carts manually.
Even with more than one worker, the collecting and guiding of long columns of carts is difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, in large parking lots, workers must push or pull the column of carts great distances. The retrieval task can be physically exhausting and may result in injury to the workers. Carts also can be damaged as the workers struggle to push or pull long columns to the store door.
In response to the difficulties associated with manual retrieval of shopping carts, one known apparatus utilized a motorized cart retriever for pulling or pushing a column of shopping carts through the parking lot in a train-like fashion. In the case where shopping carts are pulled, a rope extends from the motorized retriever and is fastened to the last cart in the column of carts. Each time a cart is added to the column, the rope must be unfastened from the previous cart, extended further, and then secured to the cart added at the end of the column. The operator then walks alongside the motorized retriever as it pulls thirty-five or more carts.
An improved motorized shopping cart retriever is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,694 to Schugt et al., which issued Aug. 10, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,379 to Schugt et al., which issued Apr. 24, 2001. Both of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties into the present application.
As indicated in FIG. 1, which is a front perspective view of the retriever 2 disclosed in the referenced patents, the retriever 2 is an electric-powered vehicle with electronic remote control that allows an operator to use the retriever for retrieval of wheeled shopping carts. The retriever can be operated in a remote or manual mode. The retriever 2 provides a foot pedal, a seat 4 and a steering wheel 6 for manual operation. The retriever is powered by an electric drive and includes dynamic braking and a parking brake.
An additional method of shopping cart retrieval disclosed in the referenced patents includes pushing the shopping carts with a non-rideable electric-powered retriever that provides for both manual and remote operation. The retriever is moved to the location of the shopping carts either manually or by remote control. The shopping carts are attached to the front of the retriever, the unit is operated in remote mode, and the operator guides the shopping carts from the front of the cart train with the retriever pushing the column of shopping carts.
While motorized shopping cart retrievers are advantageous over manual methods of shopping cart retrieval, the use of motorized retrievers has presented some new problems. For example, because motorized retrievers are able to push a greater number of shopping carts than can be done manually, operators of the motorized retrievers often overload the retrievers by running exceedingly long strings of carts that the operator could not manually move by himself. This overloading can result in damage to the shopping carts and damage to the retriever due to the excessive stresses exerted on the carts and retriever by the exceedingly long string of carts. The great mass and length of such strings of carts increases the difficulty in starting, maneuvering and stopping the strings. This presents a danger to pedestrians and cars in the parking lot. Also, the great length of such strings of carts can interfere with pedestrian and vehicle traffic in a parking lot.
There is a need in the art for a device that can prevent an operator from overloading a motorized shopping cart retriever. There is also a need in the art for a method of preventing an operator from overloading a motorized shopping cart retriever.